


The Return

by PeachTale



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! Series
Genre: Developing Friendships, Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-02-15 15:34:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13034181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeachTale/pseuds/PeachTale
Summary: Yugi never thought this could happen, but here he was, the one man who caused so much trouble for him and his friends.  The Evil Bakura was back, worse still was that he was in his own body, and now he was standing on his doorstep.  Why was he back? Why did he have his own body? And why was he at Yugi's?





	1. The Return

Yugi had opened the door, having expected a delivery to arrive for the shop, what he didn’t expect was to see his former enemy standing in front of him and very much _alive_.  

This was the man who had tried so hard to kill someone that he considered like a older brother, his __best friend__.  Now here he was, standing in front of him with a grin, and in his own body like he had been in the Memory World; dark skin, greyish eyes, the grey hair and of course the scars under his eye.

He just stared at him, before he finally gathered his wits; “How are you here? The Pharaoh __destroyed__  Zorc!” He exclaimed, wondering for a moment if perhaps this was a dream, most likely a nightmare, but considering everything he and his friends had gone through since Pharaoh Atem entered their lives, he doubted it, it didn’t matter how wild something might seem, chances were it was true.

The ancient Egyptian chuckled, which made Yugi shiver with fear as he didn’t have Atem to help him now; “Did he? Or, did he destroy everything negative that was __affected__  and that created Zorc to begin with? Which was the reason why Zorc had to cling to me?”

Yugi was caught off guard with that, he __never__  considered that before, yet he was still worried about this; “So you are saying that you have a second chance? But… why here?” As far as he was concerned there was no real reason for the evil Bakura to be here, they had been enemies before after all… at least in part, if what he was being told was true.

“Because…” He grimaced as he fought to get the words out; “You are __kind__ ,”

The pair just stared at each other, Yugi couldn’t believe __this__ , regardless of all the adventures he had gone through with the other’s, this was something completely different.  He spotted that the evil Bakura looked rather agitated and restless as he waited for a reply of some sort, but Yugi just couldn’t understand it; “Why me? Why not Tea or…” He scrambled for another name, but the only one he could have come up with would have been __Ryou Bakura__ , and he was certain that the other teen wouldn’t wish to have __anything__  to do with the evil spirit, not after what he had put him through before.

“Tea __can__  be kind, but she has her moments.  Besides would it really have been fair if I had been sent to her?” He questioned Yugi, who had to admit that was a fair point, and he was well aware that Tea also had her faults, but it also raised another point.

“But no one is completely kind,”

The man nodded in agreement; “Indeed, but __they__ , decided that you overcame many of the challenges that Atem had created,”

Yugi almost questioned that, until he realised that is was probably in relation to when he had brought Atem to the modern world, when he wasn’t exactly as sane as he had been later, and then their was his Puzzle, just walking around his vast soul room was a hazard.

“Wait, they think that because I managed to deal with him that I would be able to deal with you?” Now Yugi felt like __they__ , who he figured must have been the actual Egyptian God’s, were just being mean, __if__  he was telling the truth.  Besides the relationship he had with Atem was different, they had grown to become friends, brothers even, while the evil Bakura was forceful, blocking the other Bakura out.

“I have learned that he was worse than I was when he first became free from containment in the Puzzle,” As he said it, it was clear that he didn’t believe it, and if Yugi __hadn’t__  have gone through it all with Atem, he’d have felt the same way.

Instead of arguing with him, Yugi just rubbed his head; “Did you __actually__  agree to do this?”

“ _ _No__ , but that doesn’t matter to __them__.  They told me that I was to relive my life, __without__  the influence of Zorc to cloud my mind.  I can make any and all decisions __myself__ , but they wanted to have someone __oversee__  me to begin with,” He shrugged his shoulders at that, like he didn’t understand their reasons for doing so, but Yugi could.

__They__  probably knew that Bakura would just go back to a life of crime, as he had back in Ancient times, rendering everything they had tried to do useless, but there was something else that made Yugi wonder about this; “Just to begin with?” He was suspicious about that, what was ‘to begin with’? Was there a time line? However if he was stuck with him there was one other thing he had to learn; “What do I call you?” He __hoped__  it wasn’t going to be Bakura, he didn’t want to distance himself from Ryou now.

He tilted his head at the shorter teen, then with a grin he spoke; “Akefia,”

Yugi blinked, thinking back over to the Memory World, where he and his friends, even Atem had all faced the thief king; “You never corrected us on your name!”

Akefia scoffed, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes; “Of course not.  In Ancient times telling someone your name was to gain __power__  over them.  You saw what went on there, if you had an enemies name, you would have the __power__  to place a curse or any number of spells on your enemies,”

Now Yugi noticed that although he still seemed agitated, he also seemed weary and…. unsure? He wasn’t sure if he had ever seen Akefia look unsure outside of duelling Atem, so what was he worried about?

“So you have to stay here?”

“What did I just say? What did we just talk about?” He snapped, it was clear that Akefia wasn’t amused about this situation any more than Yugi was.

“It’s just…” Yugi began, he would have to speak to his grandpa about this and then try to figure out __how__  Akefia could contribute to the household; “Joey and the other’s will see you at some point,”

Now they both had roughly the same thoughts; Joey and Tristan would make threats, although they would be empty one’s, though Akefia was not going to allow __anyone__  to threaten him.  He had shown them that he could deal with them without the use of Shadow Magic and he would be more than happy to repeat the process again if he had to.

“Simple, I just won’t be here when they are,”

It did sound simple, but Yugi already knew that it wouldn’t be the case, though he couldn’t talk about Joey’s private matters, yet Akefia would need to know __why__  his plan wouldn’t work.

Akefia watched the teen look pensive, knowing roughly what he was thinking; “I already know about Joey’s __situation__  with his father.  Ryou might not be regarded as a close friend, but he knew about that,”

Yugi didn’t expect that, no one in the group ever spoke about Joey’s father situation in front of anyone, as far as he was aware, but the fact that Ryou __knew__  about it, meant that perhaps if Joey and Tristan spoke about it then they might not have been as careful as they were when they were with the other’s.  He did feel bad for Ryou, but with him being possessed by the spirit of the Ring so often, the other’s kept him away out of fear.

Akefia smirked; “Joey is loud, Ryou overheard him __ranting__ a few times in regards to his father.  Of course he kept quiet about it, since it was personal information,” He did give him a sharp look, as if telling him off for keeping Ryou away from the group of friends; “Although many of the students of that school already knew about, they all knew to keep quiet about it.  He should consider himself lucky that __Ishtar__  didn’t learn about it,”

Strangely enough Yugi felt guilty, if they had let Ryou into their group of friends, they probably would have noticed when Akefia was in control and then he realised what the Egyptian had just said; “Wait, hang on if Ryou knew and you __obviously__  knew, why didn’t __you__  use that information?”

It was odd to see the grey haired man before him look conflicted, as if figuring out if he should tell the truth or not before he came to a resolution; “Because I have… __had__  my own personal code.  Not even __Zorc__  could override something like that,” He looked down at Yugi, daring him to say anything about that.

He frowned; “Your own personal code?” It was something that he wanted to hear more about, because in the Memory World he had seen __nothing__  that could be regarded as a personal code, unless it was a short one.

“We can discuss that later,” Akefia look down at his own clothing, and was thankful that he had returned to his own body, with __modern__ clothes, although he did still get to wear the gold from his previous life; “I suppose these will do for just now,” He commented offhandedly.

Yugi looked at the clothes he was wearing, although he knew the other would need to go out and buy his own clothing, it wasn’t like he could borrow __his__  clothing; “Well you could help Grandpa with the shop,” He decided to suggest, after all it would help Akefia earn some money though once he said that the other man bristled, which was when he remembered that his grandfather had been a __Priest__  in the past; “You know he’s not against you,”

Those stormy grey eyes looked at him with certainty; “I’m a thief, that is what I do best,” He stated, as if Yugi should have known better than to even __suggest__  such an idea.

“Really? Because from what I have seen,” Yugi felt that gaze become sharp and he did his best to not let it get to him; “You are a brilliant Duelest, Bakura… Er… Ryou admitted that he was never overly interested in the game, and that his deck had never really been built for anything other than just having it.  But you __created it__ , you had myself __and__  Atem on the run so many times,”

It was clearly the right thing to say, as Akefia felt that praise reach him, his gaze on Yugi relaxed which let him breath a little bit easier; “Regardless, you can’t expect me to simply stay in a shop and just work my life away, where is the __fun__  in that?”

“Huh, is it because you don’t know how to work in a shop? Or are you intimidated?” It was an innocent enough question, but the moment those words left his mouth, he knew it was the wrong thing to say.  This was __Akefia__ , formerly part of the entity known as the evil Bakura, but he was surprised that he didn’t snap at him, instead he just looked rather confused, as if he didn’t understand what Yugi was up to.

“ _ _Centuries.__   I have been a thief for __centuries.__   Do you think I could just wipe away what I am so easily? Like I was never a thief? Regardless of what __they__  want from me, I will __never__  give up on being that,” He sounded so angry, yet Yugi was certain he heard a distressed toned in his voice.

He did agree with Akefia though, it would be asking too much when he had been a thief for so long; “So how about if you work a few times a week and then you could…” He trailed off, realising what he was essentially giving his permission for Akefia to do.

“Steal?” He smiled, getting the humour out of the situation when he noticed how Yugi was blushing at his mistake.

“But only from the rich…” His blush became deeper when he realised exactly what he was suggesting.

“Then give to the poor?” Akefia cackled; “You think I will become Domino’s own Robin Hood?” He laughed so hard that he had to lean against the wall to keep his balance.

Yugi smiled; “Wouldn’t you have wished for someone to have helped you?” He realised that this would be a sore point, after all Akefia’s hurt, hatred and loneliness had been the reason how Zorc had remained around for so long, it would be too easy for him to lash out.

“I __had__  help,” He stated, looking carefully at Yugi, no longer laughing, but remained leaning against the wall by the door.

“Until Zorc took over,”

Akefia didn’t reply sharply, instead he looked rather thoughtful; “No one would have helped a child from Kul Elna.  It resided on the outskirts of Egypt,”

“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t…” He realised that he hadn’t been aware of where Akefia’s home was, of how far away from other’s it had been.

Akefia’s laugh was bitter; “Of course you didn’t know, the Shadow Game separated you from the Pharaoh, you didn’t have his thoughts in your mind to share,” He shook his head; “Not that it matters now, they are all gone,”

Yugi wanted to say something more, but they were interrupted by his grandfather, who looked startled to see the Egyptian at the door, but he had no inkling as to who he actually was.  Which to Yugi it was just as well, because he was able to come up with a quick lie as to who he was, not a completely lie though, he would never want to give his grandfather an outright lie.  However he didn’t want his grandfather to know that this had been the evil Bakura, the one who had tried to kill him.  Instead he told him how the man was a former spirit of a Millennium Item and had been given a second chance at life.

Though as Yugi thought about it when his Grandpa greeted Akefia warmly and invited him in, wasn’t that __also__  the truth?

 

 

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

In the evening, after a lot of discussion, mainly Yugi and his  Grandfather , Akefia found himself being led to a spare room to sleep in for the night. He was given some towels should he wish to have a shower before he went to sleep, or in the morning before breakfast, as Yugi wished him goodnight the former thief king couldn’t help but feel relieved that this was working out rather well. So far.

 

 

He was grateful for what the Mutoes were doing for him, although when Yugi’s  _friends_ learnt about this new  arrangement , they were  _very_ vocal in their disapproval and disbelief of him and his reasons of being in this household. 

It was mainly Joey and Tristan who were loud of their dislike of him; not that he could blame them, particularly with Tristan, he had taken over  _his_ body too; but he was fully aware that it was his former host, little, quiet,  _innocent_ Ryou Bakura who was uncomfortable around him,  nervously watching him and then looking away again, trying to hide in the background, to be a wallflower, which wasn’t the point of being around Yugi and his friends. It wasn’t something Akefia was used to, this  _emotion_ was fairly new, although he figured that  _maybe_ he felt it back in Ancient Egypt, there was no way he could not have, bit he felt  _guilt_ now that Ryou wasn’t fully involved in his friends. There was nothing to fear, not really, but Ryou had a lot of experience of  _him_ taking over his body, he knew how  dangerous he was. 

_Does he_ ? Akefia wondered to himself, keeping his distance from the group as they talked, Tristan’s eyes glancing over at him every so often, while Ryou didn’t seem too invested in the conversation that was going on around him. The only problem was that he currently was  _living_ with the Mutoes, so he would  _have_ to see this group often, but it wasn’t  _fair_ on Ryou to miss out on…

_Miss out on having friendships?_ Akefia thought to himself and looking at the quiet boy with a frown, he could ignore that sharp looks he got from Joey and Tristan, it didn’t bother him, he had proven a few times that he could deal with them easily, but Ryou was another matter all together.

The only person of this group of oddball friends who didn’t seem to wish him to leave and never return to Domino was Tea.

“I think Yugi is right. You just need to find out who you are _without_ Zorc,” She looked right at him, into those dull violet eyes, there was no fear about her, nothing that would suggest that she was nervous around him and Akefia had to hand it to her, she had more guts than the majority of people he had ever met, past and present.  However it didn’t take away from the fact that he had been the one to threaten her friends, he was the one who could have and _would have_ killed her friends just to gain _power_ to destroy the Pharaoh, and in the end with Zorc having taken over, corrupting him, he would have destroyed the world.

“Tea, are ya feeling all right?” Joey asked, staring over at her in confusion, but he didn’t move over to them, he was still uncertain of Akefia, he never kept quiet about it should the former thief be around in ear shot, and his brown haired friend nodded in agreement.

“Yea, why would anyone like _him_ need a second chance, we all know he’s going to blow it.” Tristan commented and Joey nodded, both of them looking at Akefia with complete d isdain.

He kept the mask on, looking at them nonchalant, but their words,  _Tristan’s_ words had hit a nerve. But he’d be  _damned_ if he would let those  _fools_ see it though.

“If you had any idea what he had gone through back in Ancient Egypt, then maybe you would understand why this is being done now.”

To everyone’s surprise, it was  _Ryou_ who spoke. Quiet, shy and timid Ryou who was now  _standing up_ for hi s former tormentor. No one said a word, no one knew exactly  _what_ to say in the few seconds after he had spoken, Joey was stunned to silence, but Tristan finally found the words, looking at Ryou cautiously, wondering if Akefia had done something to  _make_ him speak that way.

“How can anything have been so bad that you would want to _destroy_ the whole world?” His gaze was on Ryou, whose own gaze was on Akefia, giving him a questionable look; _would he talk about it_?

Those dull violet eyes gaze back at him, looking rather cold and Ryou _barely_ suppressed a shudder when Akefia spoke, looking directly at Tristan. “Perhaps when you have seen everyone you _care about_ _slaughtered_ for some magical _trinkets_ , then see the rest of your village _massacred_ to keep the deed a _secret,_ then you can speak to me about that. Until then, I would advise you _both_ to keep your mouth’s shut about _my past._ ” His glare on the pair was filled with cold fury, that he had to remember that past, even though it had happened so long ago, he stood up and left the sitting area.

“Akefa, we’re sorry,” Tea called after him starting to stand up and almost followed him out of the room, although Joey and Tristan looked shocked by what they had now learned, they didn’t look apologetic in the least and right now Akefia wasn’t in the mood to forgive so quickly.

“ _Sorry_ doesn’t remove the fact that my _family_ are gone, _sorry_ doesn’t stop the hate I _still feel_ towards those who thought it was _fun_ to murder a whole _village_ , sorry Tea...” Akefia turned to look over his shoulder at her and she froze. “Doesn’t stop the sounded I _still hear_ …” He trailed off, he saw the horror in her eyes, the sympathy, sadness, pity, helplessness and he closed the door behind himself. He moved away to lean against another wall, trying to focus, to push those _memories_ out of his head.

This proved what he had already known to be true, he couldn’t be around Yugi’s friends, but he also knew that he couldn’t mope around his room either, that would make it worse, the memories would return and he didn’t need that. The one thing he could do was go and see if he could help Mr Muto e \- the old man had tried to get him to just call him Gra nd pa, but given that he reminded him so much of a former Priest in his last life, he was unable to form the words on his lips.

He walked out to the front of the store, where he saw a few open boxes and a rather exhausted old man look ing inside them, before he spotted the Egyptian walked in.

“Ah Akefia, I don’t suppose you are wanting to work on the floor?”

Those were the exact words he had been wanting to hear. To everyone’s surprise, particularly Joey and Tristan, he was rather good at dealing with customers. He found that if he put a somewhat  _Ryou_ persona on, people appreciated him advice and would comment on how friendly he was, and how his advice was so helpful for them winning duels. It was also an added bonus that he was able to deflect fans of Yugi out of the store, though his loosely Ryou type of persona would disappear should these fan’s be more stalker-ish in their approach. Though Yugi and his Grandpa didn’t approve to begin with, they soon realised that a firmer approach was needed otherwise they would break in to just see Yugi up close.

Akefia smiled, thankful that there will be  _something_ for him to do, to take his mind off of the past ; “Of course, there isn’t much for me to talk about it there,” He glared at the closed door, although Yugi’s Gra nd pa knew what he had been through, he never spoke of it to anyone  _but_ Yugi, he didn’t want Akefia to feel like he was intruding in his personal space, or his past.

“It’s not the most thrilling of jobs, but I need these cards organised, they have just arrived,” The old man explained gesturing to the few boxes on the floor and Akefia nodded.

He was fine with organising the cards, in fact he rather enjoyed it, it was a bit of a perk to work alongside the pair of them in this case. He got to see new cards that no one else had seen before, and it also meant that he had a  _slight_ advantage in  duelling too, that added perk was that the old man would sometimes let him take some cards for his own deck, although Akefia still paid for them, he didn’t want to get cards for free, he wasn’t wanting to bankrupt the old man, even though Yugi argued with him about that, but in the end he always won. Because they  _needed_ money, it was the only way to survive and Akefia  _knew_ how much these cards he was given cost, he wasn’t going to bite the hand that fed him after all.

“That’s fine, though aren’t we going to be closing soon?” He asked, looking at the large group of customers who were looking around and wondering if he should usher them out.

“It’s a Thursday, late night closing,” He reminded him with a chuckled and Akefia cursed under his breath, Thursday nights meant that _Joey_ would be staying over; “Is something wrong?” He looked over at him in concern and Akefia shook his head.

“Nothing to worry about,” He turned and walked over to the boxes, opening up a cupboard and bringing out a clipboard to make it easier for him to check things off in this delivery of cards. He picked up one box and brought it to the counter, so he could check them off _and_ serve customer’s at the same time instead of having the old man do all the work.

He had been impressed by the old man, for someone so old he still knew his stuff, at times he found they had started talking about the Ancient Egyptian Pyramids and the traps that had been made to keep thieves out. Although he wasn’t exactly the  _best_ person to talk to, the age gap between them was  _huge_ ; thought Yugi insisted that it wasn’t due to the fact that he had been trapped in the ring for centuries, he personally felt that it was actually due to Akefia being in his early twenties that caused the problems. Though he and the old man knew better, with the man trying to broach the subject of the past a few times now, but he just wasn’t ready to talk about it.

He looked through a few of the cards, spotting some that he knew he would need to save up for, and then he saw other cards that he knew Yugi _and_ Joey would get good use out of in their own decks. As much as Joey and Tristan with their comments, he couldn’t exactly _blame_ them, he wasn’t the nicest person before, it didn’t help that Zorc was mainly in control, he was in a sense like Ryou, just being used, just a tool, but the difference was that he _wanted_ this to happen, he wanted to be used to get revenge. He served customers as he put the cards into different stacks, for different areas of the counter’s that he knew Yugi was trying to get his Grandpa to revamp, to make the cards look a bit more appealing to people who were new to the game.  He then spotted a rather unlikely customer and he braced himself, before he remember that Kaiba didn’t believe in any of that nonsense like reincarnation, or _magic_ , and that it was highly likely that Kaiba would have no clue as to who he was, if Akefia played it right, he would hopefully remain ignorant of that fact.

He put on the voice that was similar to Ryou’s own, to sound rather meek, like he wouldn’t hurt a fly. “How can I help you sir?”  h e asked as the rich teen walked over to him, like a man on a mission.

Those blue eyes looked around the store before landing on him, coldly he spoke; “I’m looking for Yugi,”

It was clear that Kaiba had either ignored to old man, or didn’t see him. Either way it didn’t matter; “I’ll go get him Akefia,” The old man nodded briskly at Kaiba before going through the back.

Thos blue eyes returned to look at Akefia once more, “I thought that it was just the old man and Yugi working here, when did they hire you?” It was clear that Seto was questioning him, only Akefia wasn’t too sure as to  _why_ .

However the Ancient Egyptian relaxed, this was nothing compared to what he had done in the past. “I’ve been here for a month now, with Yugi being so well known in the  duelling world, it was thought that they should hire someone else to help with the store,”

He scoffed; “And the  _mutt_ didn’t want to be in the shadows,”

It was a clear dig at Joey, though he didn’t care for it, it was a bit  _bland_ for his tastes, and besides he was still annoyed at the idiot. “I suppose he’s a bit busy trying to scrap a somewhat  _feasible_ grade in school,”

There was a slight chuckle, Akefia was aware that he had made a decent impression on the rich teen, with a nod he moved back to his place and continued to organise the cards, when he heard Yugi come out, his friends following him, although Akefia easily ignored him, focusing himself on the cards, though he still kept an eye and ear out for the customers who came up to the  till , although when someone did he found it was his former host.

The former thief looked at the boy, noticing that he had no cards in his hands to buy - and he already was fully aware that Ryou wasn’t really a  _fan_ of Duel Monsters - so why had he come over to him? “What are you after?”

“The… the other’s are busy talking to Kaiba,” Ryou glanced over at them quickly, to make sure they were indeed still talking to Seto, before looking at his former tormentor. “I wanted to talk to you… alone?”

Akefia scoffed, continuing with his work. “Well I am doing this strange thing called  _working_ , some might even say that it’s an  _honest_ profession,”  h e wasn’t feeling like being polite right now, Ryou wasn’t interested in buying anything and he didn’t wish to bring up the past, he was busy and he wanted to get this box finished before they closed, though he was fully aware that the old man wouldn’t mind, but he found that he liked to have at least one part of the task he was given done completely.

“Then tomorrow night, you could come round for dinner?” Ryou asked, sounding jittery and looking over his shoulder to the other’s again.

He snorted; “If it makes you feel better and will stop you from bothering me,  _fine_ ,” Akefia didn’t want to go, but he would, to get away from this place for a while and to see what Ryou actually had to say.

It seemed to be the right thing to say, as Ryou smiled, still nervous of course, and moved away not before informing him of the time to be at that apartment.

When everyone had left and the shop closed, the four of them were left and had dinner in the kitchen, with Yugi catching his Gra nd pa and Akefia up on what Seto was talking to him about.

“Kaiba was saying that there is going to be another tournament coming up,” Yugi looked pointedly at the grey haired man sitting next to him and his Grandpa while Joey sat directly across from the Ancient Egyptian.

Akefia ignore the look as he ate his noddles while Joey spoke up; “And why did he feel the need to come in and tell you? Surely the shop would have gotten  f liers in?”

Gra nd pa and Akefia looked at each other, and the former thief grinned. “Because he wanted to give you fair warning that he would be taking  _back_ his title,” He chuckled at the thought. Set o was now so used to how the Pharaoh battled, but he didn’t know Yugi’s, and as he had learn ed during his battle against Yugi in the Memory World, he was indeed a force to be reckoned with.

“Yea? Well there’s no way he’d gonna be able to defeat you Yugi,” Joey assured his friend, who smiled at the encouragement.

Akefia nodded in agreement; “All the same...” He spoke up and the two  duellists looked at him, unsure what his next sentence would be and Joey looked weary, however the thief looked over at the old man who smiled and nodded.

“Ah yes, the cards that we got in today might be able to give you an advantage, you should always take time to revamp your decks.” he advised them and glanced over at Akefia to continue on.

“I found a few cards that would work well for _both_ your decks.”  he admitted, noticing that Joey looked stunned, he refrained to add that he hadn’t gotten through _all_ the boxes, but that information alone would help them in the next tournament.

“Really? That’s nice of you Akefia, you didn’t have to do that.” Yugi smiled at him, though the older man was fully aware that he was touched by that, the man who used to make life so difficult for him and his friends clearly wasn’t as bad as he used to be. “Are you… are you going to enter?”

Such an innocent question shouldn’t have caught him off guard, especially since he had spoke to him about it before, yet it did all the same. It also appeared to have caught Joey off guard too, who never gave much thought that he would enter.

Akefia glanced at the three of them before answering. “Whatever for? My deck isn’t complete and I wouldn’t be able to get far without my most powerful monsters.” He brushed it off, although he longed to duel someone again, it had been fun, until it had gotten rather serious, like when he face the Pharaoh or Malik’s evil side, but the other duels? They had been enjoyable.

Yugi noticed that Joey shivered in fear at the mere  _mention_ of the creature’s that Akefia and Zorc had used in Battle City, and he had to admit, they  _were_ scary monsters but they were  e ffective for what they were wanting, even though Atem was able to defeat them in the end. “I bet we could build up a deck here!”

He glanced at the younger boy, an eyebrow raised. “I have my own  _personal_ monsters that I require.” He was blunt now, though Yugi knew why, he  _understood_ . Akefia’s favourite monsters weren’t exactly  _easy_ to find, in fact the one who had one particular monster was Ryou, and he wasn’t sure how likely it was for Akefia to ask his former host to give him his deck.

They moved on to another subject, and when dinner was over, Akefia felt thankful that Joey actually spoke to him sometimes during the meal, usually it was a discussion about Duel Monsters, though  later  he left the room to go to his room, wanting a bit of solitude for the rest of the night, unaware that the old man was watching him, and followed him after a few minutes of getting Yugi and Joey to clean up.

He knocked on the door. “Akefia?”

The former thief had picked up a book to read before he officially retired for the night and looked at the door. “Come in.” It felt odd saying those words, which shouldn’t have been the case, but during his time with Ryou, who had no one around him and this was so…  _polite_ that he wasn’t sure how he should feel about it. He was sure that he had never been polite in Ancient Egypt… Or maybe he had been, as a child, before it all happened, now? Now he was finding he had to relearn a few things to fit into the modern world.

As much as he enjoyed the old man’s company, regardless of him briefly reminding him of the priest from way back, he now wondered what he was up to. He didn’t normally come up here to talk to him after dinner.

The old man came into the room. “You know there are plenty of monsters…”

Akefia bit back a growl, the old man meant well, he knew that, but he had hoped the conversation was  _over_ after dinner; “I  _know_ . But that one… that was from my past,”  h e didn’t wish to talk about it, but between Yugi and the old man, he would take the latter, at least there was less of a risk of Yugi’s friends learning the truth. “Diabound was with me through it  _all_ , Diabound was the reason how I managed to make it so far…”  h e trailed off, but the old man understood.

“I see, perhaps you might be able to speak to Ryou about it? I noticed the pair of you talking briefly earlier,”

The priest from the past wasn’t one he dealt with often, if at all really, and he had very little involvement with the old man, until he welcomed him into his home, but he noticed that he was shrewd, it was no wonder he was good at hunting down Egyptian treasure, how he managed to make this store last for as long as it had, even though other card shops were popping up and trying to entice Duellist in the buy the cards  _there_ instead, but they didn’t have the knowledge like  _he did_ , and it helped that his grandson was the ‘King of Games’.

He smirked over at him, “He wanted to talk, so I won’t be here for dinner tomorrow night.”

Akefia also saw that he had a great poker face, he couldn’t even get a  hint as to what he was thinking. “Just try not to be too hard on him,”

There was a clear warning there, he was well aware of it, yet even with that knowledge it didn’t make him bristle as it might have done before, when he was still combined with Zorc.

Perhaps he would need to seriously consider if he actually did want to join Yugi and Joey in this up coming tournament, or if he should simply stay as a mere bystander.

 

 

 

 

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akefia is going round to Ryou's for dinner and the pair are going to be airing out the past, with one learning a little bit more about the other.

He used to have nightmares nearly every night when he had the Millennium Ring, but now that Akefia had a body of his own and the Dark God Zorc was banished from this world, Ryou found that he was able to sleep a lot better than he had done for some time.

Of course he had been having restless sleep since he and the gang were told that Akefia was alive and living with Yugi and his Grandfather, it had been worse last night when he had invited Akefia round for dinner. But he had  _wanted_ to talk to him, though now that he thought about it more clearly, it was probably a bad idea. He should have just left the past in the past and avoided Akefia like he seemed to try and avoid  him when they were in the shop .

However he had made his bed, so he would just have to deal with whatever came his way, he just hoped it wouldn’t be  _too bad_ . 

Now he was in his kitchen, making dinner and having a fair idea of what Akefia liked, at least from what he had seen him eat when he and Zorc took control of his body, leaving him either unconscious in his soul room, or being able to watch everything that was going on with horror, though the majority of the time it was the former. What  little he  did know was that Akefia seemed to enjoy meat, yet he was also certain that he  would like to have more of a balanced diet, vegetables and fresh bread in particular, if what he had learned from his father was true about the Egyptian diet of Ancient times. One thing he was fairly certain of though, was that Akefia didn’t have much of a sweet tooth, so Ryou didn’t know if he really wanted to make dessert, if there was a risk that his former tormentor would be around him for long, particularly if they  _didn’t_ get along.

When the door buzzer went he looked at the time, realising that he had never really given Akefia an actual time to come over, so he must have assumed arriving at half five was the right time. Which it was, though Ryou wasn’t sure how to feel about that, he hadn’t thought that the former spirit was so perceptive of him and his habits as he pushed the buzzer to let the man into the apartment complex.

His nerves were starting to go into overdrive now and he jumped when there was a knock on the door. He was deeply regretting his decision as he opened the door and let the Egyptian in with a brisk hello before heading back to the kitchen, leaving Akefia to close the door behind himself.

Not that he minded, in fact he was  _fully_ aware that Ryou was unnerved by his return, and knowing all too well that the boy was probably having second thoughts about having invited him over for dinner. Just as well that he had the foresight to bring some alcohol along with him, it was stolen of course, Yugi and Solomon didn’t really have any alcohol in the house, and while he  _could_ pay for the drink, he opted not to, least his skills become rusty. Besides no one was the wiser from any of the stores he went in to, otherwise he was certain to have been chased down the street, possibly arrested.

_And they think these machines will protect them_ . He thought to himself, pleased with his thefts, though he knew if he  _had_ been arrested, Ryou would be relieved, he wouldn’t have to deal with him after all.

He took an appreciative sniff of the air when he realised that  _pork_ was being cooked and he almost groaned in pleasure as he walked into the  kitchen ; “I forgot how good a cook you are,”

“Well it’s not like we ever ate together,” Ryou commented as he brought out the plates and began to dish out the rice.

Akefia nodded; “True, although I think I had sometimes  _pushed_ you out of control when you had finished making it,” He admitted, glancing over at Ryou who froze and in that moment he realised that it  _might_ have been the wrong thing to say.

Ryou now looked over at him, curious; “I have no memory of that. Every time I…  _woke up_ , I was always hungry,” 

Akefia nodded, he knew all about that too, Zorc did the same to him in the past; “Zorc never noticed,  _I did,_ but I have gone hungry many time when I was alive in the past, I found it easy to ignore,” He sat down at the small kitchen table to look over at the white haired boy, who was now leaning against the counter after he had put out the rice and waited for the meat to finish cooking.

Ryou looked at him thoughtfully; “You’ve never told me about  _your_ past,” He now moved to begin to plate up the meat, not seeing how the older man was looking at the food hungrily.

“Well you weren’t the only one who was under Zorc’s thumb,” He admitted quietly, looking away from the food and down to the place-mat in front of him, he never noticed how Ryou glanced over at him, his eyes widened with that piece of information as he brought the food over, placing the plates down;

“Really? But it always felt like you were working together,”

Akefia ignored him and just began to eat, although Ryou found it was rude, but he had to remember that not only was Akefia  _not_ from Japan, he  also never really had much socialisation either, given how he was alone for so long in Ancient Egypt. Though as Ryou thought about it more, Yugi had never mentioned Akefia starting his meals before he and his grandpa gave thanks, so what was the difference now?

The thief looked up at him now; “We  _weren’t_ working together,” He looked more content after having a few bites of the meal; “At least not completely. I never wanted the darkness to destroy the world, I simply wanted the Pharaoh to pay for his crimes, I wanted my village to move on to the afterlife.” He closed his eyes for a moment, and Ryou wondered if it was to stop the tears from forming, though when Akefia opened them again, there was no tears, just anger; “But  _Zorc_ … I can’t say that he corrupted me, that wouldn’t be true. I was willing to work  _with_ him, but I wasn’t alone in being used… He also managed to get into the mind of one of the Pharaoh’s own  _Priest_ too, he was easier to corrupt, and of more use to Zorc than I was,”

Those brown eyes looked at him, unable to believe this bit of information; “Why?”

He took another bite and looked at Ryou’s barely touched meal; “You need to eat,” He gestured to his food, before returning to his tale; “As to  _why_ he was more easily corrupt? Heh, because  _he_ was the one who started it  _all_ , he was the one who received permission to massacre everyone in my village to create those  _damn Items_ !” He took a sip of his drink and calmed himself down, noticing that Ryou was slowly eating though he looked a bit weary after his little outburst; “The foolish  _Priest_ didn’t realise that he  had  corrupted his own soul which let Zorc seep in and influence him while he remained completely unaware. Due to Zorc corrupting him  even more than  he had  before, it made him go out of his way to try and kill the Pharaoh in  _subtle_ ways, usually putting him in  _my_ path, more often than it should have happened. All because he wanted his own son to rule over the kingdom,” He continued to explain, they both had stopped eating while he spoke n about the past.

“But…” Ryou trailed off as he tried to think about the Priests of the Egyptian court and _everything_ his father had told him about, but he found himself being unable to remember _anything_.

Akefia smirked; “ _Envy_ , it’s happened throughout the course of history from what I have heard,” He gave Ryou a meaningful glance, one that told him that he  _had_ paid some type of attention during Ryou’s schooling; “The Priest was the younger brother to the Pharaoh, he would never have ruled over Egypt if the Pharaoh’s chosen son survived, and should that have happened the chances of his own family ruling dwindled. He wanted the power, but he didn’t see the risk he was taking when he created those Items, for the kingdom of Egypt and his own son,”

Ryou looked at him in awe; “But you could tell? What… what would have happened if he  _managed_ to resist? After…”

“None of _this_ would have happened,” He stretched his arms wide, gesturing around himself; “ _I_ would be dead, as I was supposed to back then, Zorc wouldn’t have had a vessel to _cling_ to, the people  of Kul Elna would still be trapped. There was _no way,_ Ryou, that the Priest could _not_ have created those Items. If the Pharaoh refused to entertain th e idea, Egypt would be a _very_ different kingdom to the one we know of now,” He went back to his food, trying to enjoy it once more, but the conversation made it change in taste, as if talking about the past, about the man who made everything in his life go away, take away his _happiness_ had also taken away the fresh _taste_ of the food.

“Really?” Ryou asked, still curious, even though he was fully aware that this wasn’t a conversation that Akefia wanted to continue, he found himself unable to stop questioning him about it.

“Really. Even if the Items were made and the Priest managed to keep himself from being completely corrupt, Zorc would only have had _me_ , with my skills. It would work well for him, but an _insider_ to the Pharaoh would be of better use than a _lowly thief_ if he wished to _win_ ,”

The pair became silent, both of them realising that regardless of what happened, it was a lose lose situation, and although Ryou was fully aware that it would have meant that he would never have had to deal with Akefia or the combination of him and Zorc, if it was that way, it also would have meant that so many more people would have died, that Akefia’s own soul would have been locked away and  _never_ be set free, as well as his family, his  _village_ would have remained where they were, unable to move on. Akefia wondered how bad it would have been if he failed so badly that Zorc neve r even got to the final part where he managed to face off with the Pharaoh  _properly_ . How much torment would he have suffered at the hands of the Dark God, or would he have suffered at all? Would Zorc have spent most of his immortal time trying to coax the Priest into giving up his Godly ways and join him, to try and break his soul down so Zorc wouldn’t have given much thought to heavily binding his soul with that of the thief’s.

“That was the best cooked meat I’ve had in some time,” He stated, even though the meal had changed in taste because of the topic they had been talking about, didn’t mean that the meal that Ryou worked hard on wasn’t someone that he couldn’t compliment on.

Akefia  decid ed that he had enough wallowing in the past and moved to grab his bag, bringing out the bottles he collected on his way here and placed them on the table, before he moved to grab two large tumbler glasses from the cupboard and all the while Ryou just looked at him.

“Um, I don’t…” He stuttered, realising that the thief clearly didn’t know the laws of the land _that_ well yet; “I’m not legal yet,” He nodded to the alcohol while the other just scoffed.

“And how will _anyone_ of legal standing know?” He opened the bottle of vodka and began to pour a little out, before thinking better of it and moving towards the fridge to bring out some fresh orange juice, knowing it would help with the taste since Ryou hadn’t drunk any before.

“I’ll know…” Was the weak reply, as Akefia poured the juice into the glass, enough that Ryou shouldn’t really notice the vodka to begin with and then he moved to pour out his own glass, with _no_ orange juice.

The thief rolled his eyes at him; “After what we’ve been through in our lives Ryou, I  _think_ we can afford to not play by other people’s rules,”

The teen smiled over at him; “Since when have  _you_ obeyed the rules?”

He chuckled; “Only when  duelling ,” He then cackled, with Ryou joining him easing the tension that had been in the room for a while.

As they continued to drink, with Ryou starting to experiment with the amount of orange juice to add to his vodka, Akefia said nothing, letting him test the waters of his alcohol threshold, the teen was starting to feel the effects as his quiet persona began to fall, feeling more relaxed around the former spirit than he had any real right to.

“So… that battle against Malik’s evil side at Battle City,” He began to speak suddenly, going far off course as to what they had been talking about before, yet Akefia didn’t point this out, the boy was at ease around him and he didn’t want that to change just yet.

“Ah yes,” He grinned; “I do so _treasure_ those memories,” He laughed and took a large gulp of his drink that he had just refiled.

“I almost died!” Ryou exclaimed, all the while those dull violet eyes looked at him with amusement.

“I know, that was my _fondest_ memory,” He teased as Ryou glared at him, rather weakly he must say.

“What?!"

“Ah Ryou, didn’t you _always wish_ to be rid of me? And you probably wished to have been rid of Zorc too, had you been aware that he had been a major part of this,” He commented swirling his drink and looking over at the teen on the single sofa across from him.

“But how would _my death_ rid me of you?”

“We’d have been _free_ ,” Akefia stated quietly, noticing the wide eyed look that Ryou was now giving him, he clearly had never thought of _that_ reasoning; “His hold had loosened when myself and Malik faced that fiend. I don’t know how though, perhaps it was due to the amount of Shadow Magic… Or perhaps he considered joining forces with the fiend instead,” He leaned back and closed his eyes, for a moment Ryou believed that he had actually fallen asleep.

For a moment Ryou felt completely sober; “But you would never have gotten your revenge,” He said quietly.

One eye cracked open to look at him; “Perhaps not,  _but_ I would have returned to my family. I would have joined the  _spirits_ of Kul Elna,”

Ryou looked at his drink; “I… I wouldn’t have wanted to leave my father alone, not after everything he’s been through,”

_Now_ Akefia flinched at that, he never thought of how selfish he was of having  _wished_ that he, Ryou and possibly Malik himself, would have died in that duel against the fiend, yet he did wonder Ryou’s reasoning for it; “Even though he is barely around?”

They were both drunk, but the conversation was serious once more, and even though they were at different areas of drunkenness, they were both feeling rather sober in regards to this topic.

“You can’t blame him for that, he’s earning a living, doing a job he loves. I’m… I _was_ always in trouble of some kind because of you and Zorc. He’s been distant because of it, but I think… we are mending our relationship,” Ryou explained, the drink was helping him be more open still around Akefia and he finished his drink; “If you want you can sleep on the fold out sofa,” He said after he yawned and stretched, standing up and getting himself a drink of water, remembering that was something he had heard about, although he wasn’t sure if it would, or _could_ help with a hangover the next day, but he was willing to try. As he walked towards the sink, he spotted something that he knew he needed to return to it’s rightful owner.

“I can walk back. Er, thank you,” The last part of awkward, they both knew it, and they both knew _why_. It wasn’t just that Yugi would learn if he had been a rude guest or not, it was also because he had to become part of the modern world, being rude wouldn’t get him very far, and he was fully aware of it.

Ryou took a large gulp of water, putting his glass down at the side of the sink before turning to look at him; “Well… I suppose you’ll be wanting this back,” He reached to grab the small velvet bag that was hiding in the cupboard behind him and held it out to him.

“What…” Akefia stood up, picking up his own empty glass and walked over to him, he placed the glass in the sink and reached out to take the bag. Opening it he was surprised to find that his card, his _ka_ from Ancient Egypt was at the top of the deck of cards, looking up at him; “Why?” He pulled out the other cards and realised they were _all_ his, all of the cards he used that he created from the basic deck that Ryou had originally started.

“Well, you know I don’t play, so they are of little use to me,” He shrugged; “And they are _yours_ after all,”

“I see. I am guessing this has nothing to do with the up-coming tournament?” Akefia glanced at him, certain that was also a reason and he spotted a small smile from Ryou who rubbed the back of his neck.

“Well there is also that. It might be _fun_ for you to do something like that, I always though that, except when you went against the Pharaoh, that you had fun playing this game,”

“I did… _do_ , but I also liked the RPG’s you came up with too,” He admitted and spotted how Ryou now seemed more guarded, the boy wasn’t _that_ drunk yet, but he should explain himself a bit more; “I think, perhaps, a few of us should play one. After this tournament of Kaiba’s,” It was a suggestion, but it was one that he _hoped_ Ryou would take to heart, it would do him good to have his friends around her e, and playing something he was actually interested in rather than always watching a game that he didn’t _mind_ , but he would never willingly play against other’s.

“I guess I will need to make one for you then,” Ryou relaxed a bit, reminding himself that Akefia was here, had been for a good few hours and he hadn’t threatend him, in fact there had been _no threats_ at all.

Akefia grinned; “It would also keep you out of trouble.” He turned away from him, grabbing the spare bottles that they hadn’t gotten around to drinking and putting them back into his bag; “I do appreciate the food… and  _company_ Ryou,”

Ryou was beaming in delight at his words, words that Akefia wouldn’t have normally said to anyone, but he knew he had put the boy through more than he should have  _ever_ gone through, and the boy  _was_ good company, sure they brought up the past, the many mistakes that Akefia had made, but it was good to air everything out, Ryou  _needed_ it to help him heal.

“You’re welcome Akefia. I hope we can do this again,”

He nodded, he also hoped they could do this, because although the boy appeared to be getting closer to his father again, he needed another friend, one who  _never_ feared him, who might actually be a good friend regardless of all the other things going on in his life. Akefia never though he would put himself out there, but it made sense, the only other person would be Yugi, and he had a support structure already. Ryou  _didn’t._

If he was completely honest with himself, this wasn’t  _just_ about Ryou, it was also about  _him_ . He wanted a friend, someone to trust and after this dinner with Ryou, clearing the air, both of them coming to the understanding that Zorc was another  entity completely and he, Akefia, was his own man, after so many centuries.

It would be a new start, a new  _beginning_ for them both.

_Now, I just need to brush up on my deck._ Akefia grinned as he left the apartment and headed back home;  _Perhaps I could give_ Seto _a run for his money, like I did his past self_ .

 


End file.
